Authors Behaving Badly Episode #1: Dara Joy

Initially, in Feb and March 2006, approximately 40-50. Of those, I am sure, most did receive their book after emailing Cory back. Sometime mid June 2006, a new wave of complaints have been steadily coming in. As of today I have received approximately 30 new complaints with more coming in each day.

In talking to these new complaints via email and forums, apparently when they began emailing Cory to find out where their book was, most did not get a response. The fan forum has been essentially shut down since mid April? Since then at least half of these fans have received an email from him about a month ago. A kind of auto reply telling them that Cory had been out of town because of a death in the family. In that email he claimed to have mailed the book to them in April and did not know what had happened to it. He assured them he would check on it and remail if necessary. That was approximately a month ago and no one had heard anything since.

Since we started this new process, I have had 2 ladies who recently received the book, but it was sent media mail (not priority as they paid for) and it was mailed about a week ago with no tracking number.

For all the new complaints, I am determined that they received their book or we will be following up with this using one or more of the options listed below:

Possible Mail and Internet Fraud (A criminal offense) by reporting this to MA Attorney General

Stopping their ability to process Visa and Paypal payments on future sales until this is resolved

Filing a Civil class action suit to obtain refunds

You have to understand, I have no clue how many people actually ordered her 2nd book. Only that last step, during an audit of financial records, would reveal how many orders actually came in . In talking to people on the net, I have spoken to fans who have ordered one or more copies. I have also talked to booksellers who have order 10-50 copies and had pre-paid for them. Some had even collected in advance from their customers so they are now having to be responsible for refunds out of their pocket.

My last contact with Cory was back in March of 2006. With this new onslaught of complaints I have sent him a very agressive email demanding a response, but as of yet, have not received one. I advised the people contacting me to send him a formal final notice. In approximately 15 days, if we have not heard from him or if they have not received all the books, with their permission, I will begin the process outlined above.

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Jane Litte is the founder of Dear Author, a lawyer, and a lover of pencil skirts. She self publishes NA and contemporaries (and publishes with Berkley and Montlake) and spends her downtime reading romances and writing about them. Her TBR pile is much larger than the one shown in the picture and not as pretty.
You can reach Jane by email at jane @ dearauthor dot com

Comments

Unless we can get a copy of the court order, there is no way to know if she can ‘ever’ publish with a publisher again. I agree about Cory, what is he to her? Why did she put him in charge?
I bought an ebook and it was short–like her voice—but too short in my opinion.
I too can’t afford to take the self-publishing route. I have sent queries to Dorchester and I think they are now being extra careful, because mine were rejected. I’ll rework the manuscripts i sent them, and see if they’ll be interested again. For Dorchester use to be easy to get published through, no more.
I’ll also query agents and other publishers accepting, but I have to do it through email as I lack the cash to send snail mail.
Good luck with yours Annette.

I do know that Some records are open to the public if they live in the area of the Court that made the decision. Therefore, that the person can go DOWN to the courthouse and perhaps for a small fee, review the court order/decision.

I was very surprised to get another comment on this old topic–not that ever posted anything before. But I was caught by her too. I very much enjoyed the first books that she published under a regular publisher. Even RITUAL OF PROOF wasn’t too bad. But the self-published ones were true disaster. I finally got “Wildcat Arrows” after vowing to do “bodily harm,” sort of. But by then I was so disgusted that I never did read it. The only reason I decided to get it at all was l that I wanted to get a complete set of her books–good or bad.

The writing of the last two I have was more than childish: erratic punctuation, unfinished sentences, gross mistakes in spelling, e.g., forrest instead of forest.

I saw her at a conference once. She tried to appear as a mystery woman, wearing flowing long (?) dress and hats with veils. She was highly perfumed, etc. All in all she seemed the height of eccentricity.

I see she has a new book out. But I’ll certainly never buy another one.

I read her last book, Taste of the Devil, a pirate book. I ordered the print version. I received it okay about three weeks after they started shipping.

I liked the book. Hero was sexy. It did have some punctuation problems, but did not detract from the story for me (not an English major and don’t care). She missed an opportunity to add to the scary tension by not working in a scene or two that showed the heroine was afraid or even aware that she was in danger, but since it’s her story, not mine, that’s fine. It did not detract from the story she did write.

Personal preference…. I like a little fear in my heroine mixed with the danger.

The only real problem with the book was the ending after the romance was resolved. Too abrupt. She told…. when she should have showed, of a major shift in the attitude and values of the heroine. If she had added an epilogue a few years in the future I would have been more satisfied with it. I don’t want to go into detail with spoilers.

Since she set up a second, even sexier tragic character, she could be setting up a sequel.

Hi – I ordered Taste of the Devil in March and have never received it – I have emailed her four times and asked why i have not gotten my book. Can anyone help me with some hints on how to get my book. Thanks

Hi Shannon, easy tell him that you will be contacting the State Attorney General’s office as well as paypal, if that is the way you paid, to report them unless you get your book in two days or so. Otherwise file a complaint with your bank/credit card.

What a down low shame!!!…It is the second time I hear loyal readers of Tara Joy complaining about not receiving the novel they’ve purchased in good faith. Every other week I am receiving e-mail messages from Cory about this and that, but I do not answer them, and what is more I resist the temptation to buy anything from him on behalf of Dara Joy. It is a shame that an author who could have had an excellent career as a writer has been ruined by bad business management and greed. Once the an author losses the confidence of the readers, it is over for the writer. I would only buy a book from Dara Joy if I see it at Borders or any other reputable publishing house…never again from her so call “self publishing business”…never again is reinforced by what Shannon said on her post of October 3, 2009. You have my sympathy, Shannon, for it is truly annoying to be taken for a ride. It took me one year to get the book I purchased from DJ self publishing scheme, and when I finally received after multiple e-mails and proof of purchases sent, I decided not to read it for I was disgusted with Dara Joy and her manager. I got the impression that Dara Joy is “blacklisted” with the other reputable publishing houses, so seeing another book of hers on Barnes & Nobles or any bookstore of the like, I do not think is going to happen…that is shame for I really like her as an author. I do not believe she is very bright in terms of business dealings for she has dug herself right into a hole with the help of her Cory.

I’m sorry to hear that people still aren’t receiving books they ordered from Dara Joy. I was tempted to order that last one but wanted to see if people were getting their books. I guess they are not again. It is really a shame because the published books were wonderful. I guess we will never know the end of any of her stories. That is too bad.

I was truly hoping that all her physical, fiscal and publihing woes were over. There are other books, especially for Traed and River, that I would really like to read. I would really like to know more about her Ritual of Proof universe.
Vi

Hmm. After being the sole member of the clean-up crew for a formerly-signed “author” who made the foray into self-publishing after being dropped, I can guess happened with respect to Ms. Joy, give or take a few details. The “author” I worked with took pre-orders before the book was printed and spent the pre-order money to cover his own personal expenses, leaving no cash in the coffers to actually have it, um … published.

There was a second problem: the book hadn’t even been written. Even bigger “oops.”

So I had the once-in-a-lifetime experience of ghostwriting the sucker (350 pages of sci-fi/futuristic drama — not the type of client I’d usually accept) in a harrowing three weeks. Author finally sucked it up, paid for the publishing and sent the hard copies out (free of charge) to the those who pre-ordered. However, it took PayPal and the state’s AG’s office breathing down his back to get him to make right.

I suspect that a lot of writers who self-publish lack the business savvy to do a serious cost analysis beforehand to figure out if this is something they should be undertaking (or if they can even afford the up-front costs to create a quality product). Taking pre-paid orders for a book that hasn’t rolled off the press is shady, especially if you have someone at the helm who cannot manage his or her financial affairs. I’ll put good money that a markedly similar scenario drove the whole DJ fiasco. As much as I would love, out of simple curiosity and former admiration for some of her writing, to read some of her newer ebooks, I am bound by conscience not to enable bad behavior.

On a final note: I never got paid by above writer. Whenever I read an online review of “his” novel (it gets really good reviews, BTW), I have to bite my lip a little. The people who bought the book wanted to read his words, not mine with his name slapped on the cover. So did they really get what they paid for — ? The comments that I’ve read regarding Ms. Joy’s recent stabs at self-publishing seem to indicate that she once possibly had a brilliant, creative editor who was heavy-handed with the red ink. Again? Hmm …

I had the misfortune of ordering Cat Scratched/Death By Ploot Ploot a year ago and have yet to rec’v it. I’ve sent 3 emails to Dara/Cory and haven’t had a response. I’ll never order this way again and even if Dara gets with a publishing house I’m done with her. This had left a very bad taste in my mouth. What’s being done now is taking advantage of your fans and holding the money in a account and drawing interest off of it. Very sad.

I ordered The Amazing Tales and after a number of e-mails and threats I finally got the book but really couldn’t read it, then like a fool I ordered Cat Scratched/Death by Ploot Ploot and the last e-mail said I would get it in April … uh it’s now June. That was my very last buy even if she does get published by a legitimate publisher.

Thanks for the advice. From the posts I read in the pass, I also took a agressive stand with Cory and I was refunded my money within 3 days without a year’s interest from Paypal and was charged a few of a $1.50. I did report Dara to the Better Business Bureau and I informed Paypal that Dara Joy’s website were still taking orders. When I rec’vd a email from Cory he said that the books wouldn’t be shipping now until July. How sad that one of my favortite authors became a scam artist. Poor Cory takes her heat unless this is Dara’s alias. I can’t see her wanting to share any of the money with anyone. LOL! Love her books. But not interested in following her career from this point on.

I thought I read somewhere that Cory is running the show, that Dara is there somewhere, letting him manage her, which is the worst decision, or one of the worst decisions I think that she made, to give control like that to someone else and still not taking it back after all the complaints, unless he’s hiding them from her.
Now on the flip side, I searched the web and discovered because of this, people are gouging prices for copies of her books. Like the other day $35 for one of her books. This was on ebay as well as Amazon and others. Sheesh.

I will send off another e-mail to Cory and see what he says. I know that if and when I get this book … it will be the last I buy from her. I’m sorry that she has had a rough time of it with the suit and all but there are too many writers out there who care about their readers to put up with one who doesn’t!

I gave up on Dara Joy after I finally–more than a year after paying for it–got my copy of the Wildcat Arrows book.

After reading her previous book–also self-published–I’d already decided not to spend my few book$$ on any more of her work. I think her publishers are the ones who “made” her. These self-published books are a mishmash of bad vocabulary, bad spelling and worse grammar. At first I thought I’d collect her books anyway, but they were getting to be just too hard to get and too awful to read. A real pity, because I loved her first couple of books: they were fresh and different.

I also saw her at a Romantic Times conference. She was the most noticeable person there, always wearing a glitzy, veiled hat. She looked more like a gypsy fortune-teller than an author.

Hi. I would be emailing them tonight or in the morning to see if your ebooks are on track to being downloaded by you. What was the amount you were charged?
Since the dorchester mess, and after publishing a book in book form, including getting that book, it has been hard getting books from her. I’ll be checking online for other avons to purchase copies of her printed books.

As for Traed, I wrote his story long ago in my head. lol. That got me into writing my own stories, go figure :)
Its Sunday, oh its going to be hot.

I think this will probably be my last comment here. I still haven’t read Wildcat Arrow book. The one before that was so horrible in every way. Unfortunately, I didn’t read it before putting out my money for WA or I wouldn’t have ordered it. I enjoyed, more or less, the ones she wrote before she had problems, whatever they were, with her publishers. So anyone who buys the first bunch should at least like those, and if it’s her publishers putting them out, you should get those.

For Luck in W…is that Washington or Wisconsin? Just curiuos. I use to live in Washington, I’m in Oregon now.
I’ve done a search for her earlier matrix series and of course people are charging out rageous prices especially for used books, as if she’s died or something. I don’t know that either, I was just surmising, I guess because of the problems between her and dorchester, perhaps she felt going via ebook is the only avenue opened to her. I am not in NY so therefore, I can’t go look at the case, otherwise it costs money to get a copy.
Now I am wondering though if enough people requested, whether or not, Dorchester would republish those first ones, for then I would buy it. I did buy wildcat arrows, I could NOT get into it. Its sitting in a drawer or box somewhere.
I sure hope she reads the comments and maybe make the changes that are needed to get back on track. I also have her ebook Death by Ploot, Ploot. Its in Pdf format, need a password to open it and on each page is your name. Anyhow, I found the story very UNSATISFYINGLY short, I felt she could have done it better. Therefore, it makes me wonder if she is still writing her own stories, or someone else is writing them. Either way. I don’t buy ebooks, although I have a few, I think about 3. One is for class.
The other I downloaded from my local library that I wanted to read, have time limit on that, but oh well. I hope that you get your ebooks.
Good luck to you W.
Blessings.
RHyanna

Just a FYI I saw Dara Joy books at Walmart recently … guess the publishers wanted to make a little on her while they can. Still haven’t gotten the book I ordered that was suppose to be mailed out in April or was it June. Guess I may as well write that off to never again try to support a “wronged” author.

Hi Annette
I checked the walmart website, nothing there. A drive to walmart means about a 30 minute drive one way. Walmart is suppose to be buiding one in Albany OR…in the meantime its either Salem or Eugene OR or over to Lebanon OR.

Contact Dara again and then if no response, file a complaint with your state attny general’s office. Mention that in the email to Dara or Cory who seems to be managing things.

Actually, it’s neither. In a way it’s a play on a name, but if anything, it would be Winnipeg, where I spent my “formative” years. I’ve been to Wisconsin and Washington–D.C. and state–and I have relatives in Oregon, as well as WA state. Cheers, Rhyanna.

Hi well its been a long while since I’ve been to walmart. I did see the rejar, mine to take on the dorchester website, they are out of the print book but are selling the ebook version. I declined the ebook and sent them an email to see if they plan to re-release her books in paperback format. Here is their exact response. It seems they have gone to print on demand, trade paperback, with even more now as ebooks.
Thanks for reading my post and have a great day.
Rhyanna

“Rhyanna,

Unfortunately all of our book clubs have been suspended. We will no longer be publishing in mass market paperback format so once a title is out of stock it would only be published in e-book format or if we decide to reprint in trade size paperback format.
Due to the volume of email received please do not delete the contents of this email when replying so that we can more easily refer back to this thread.

I ordered Dara Joys book over a year ago and have nothing but run around from Cory somebody ever since. Like a snow storm caused trouble with printing. I paid for the book and I’m sure it is long gone. I can’t get ahold of this person anymore as the address now does not exist. I have always liked Dara Joy’s books but now feel ripped off and if I’m not the only one this happened to then she is making a nice living ripping people off.

I just saw this post, and it made me incredibly happy I never caved and ordered The Amazing Tales of Wildcat Arrows. I DID order That Familiar Touch, being young and not having a clue about all the possible things that could have gone wrong. I honestly can’t remember if I had to wait longer than expected for the book. I do know that the primary reason why I never paid for the next one was because That Familiar Touch was terrible. I STILL get emails trying to entice me to pay for a complete set of Joy’s works in e-book form ($40 for all of it). Um, no thank you.

EDIT: Wait, now it’s $45, and she’s got another print book she’s trying to sell.

I just ordered from Dara Joy’s website 2 e-books before I saw this site. Now I am feeling I should have done my research first before ordering. I am not sure if I will get my e-books at all, like some of the other commentators, I will wait for 3 days and if I did not get anything from them, I will ask Paypal to refund my money. This is so sad and Dara Joy used to be one of my favourite authors.

I don’t know about the rest of you but I never had any problems I have brought all of her books and the 1 I had problems with was resent to me when I sent an email. I spent over 80.00 and got all my books. I also did research and found out Dorchester publishing closed their doors in 2010 or 2011 because they were not paying their writers they even were boycotted by a lot of the writers because of non payment. Once again big business gets caught out there but not before Dara Joy’s reputation was tarnished. If they treated their writers like this in 2009- 2011 what makes you think they did not do the same to her in 1999 everyone took the side of Dorchester until they started doing the same to a lot of other writers point being I think Dara Joy got thrown under the bus because she was one against a corporation and now that they have gone bankrupt she is old news so she doesn’t matter even though she was right about Dorchester Publishing.

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[…] The next one was The Amazing Tales Of WildCat Arrows, the worse book I have ever had the misfortune to own. I could not get through it, but skimmed a bit to see if it would get better, didn’t. It was also marketed all wrong as the main character wasn’t Wildcat Arrows. Not only was it a terrible book but she went through a lot of drama getting it out to people ordering it. Many never received it, as reported on Dear Author. […]

[…] books – I haven't seen this mentioned anywhere, but does this mean the long-running battle between Dorchester and Ms Joy has been resolved? Or has Dorchester just decided that it's going to cash in on the current […]

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